Gunmen kill online reporter in Mexico border town

By RICARDO CHAVEZ , Associated Press

Mar. 4, 20135:47 PM ET

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (AP) — Gunmen shot dead an online journalist while he ate at a taco stand in the Mexican town of Ojinaga, which lies across the border from Presidio, Texas, authorities said Monday.

Jaime Gonzalez Dominguez's news website, Ojinaga Noticias, reported that the 38-year-old journalist was shot at least 18 times with an assault rifle Sunday afternoon. The gunmen stole his camera and a woman who was with him was not wounded in the attack, it said.

"This attack against journalism is a real shame," the article said, adding that the story about the attack would probably be the last one it published.

Minutes later the website was taken down.

Ojinaga Noticias covered stories ranging from local sports to education, and on Monday it didn't have any major reports about crime or drug trafficking.

Chihuahua state prosecutors' spokesman Carlos Gonzalez said authorities have yet to determine a motive in the killing and that prosecutors don't know if Gonzalez Dominguez had received threats.

The Association of Journalists of Ciudad Juarez, another border town in Chihuahua state, demanded a thorough and fast investigation.

"Chihuahua state can no longer be one of the states where practicing journalism is a high risk," the association said in a statement.

The killing comes days before the Inter-American Press Association was to meet in the central Mexican city of Puebla. The group has several times expressed concern about the risks faced by journalists in the country.

Press advocates have long called Mexico one of the most dangerous nations for reporters. But there isn't a single figure on crimes against journalists.

The Committee to Protect Journalists says in its latest report published in February that 12 Mexican journalists went missing between 2006 and 2012 and that in the same period 14 were killed because of their work.

In July, Mexico's special prosecutor for crimes against freedom of expression Laura Borbolla said 67 journalists have been killed and 14 have disappeared in the country since 2006.

Borbolla testified at a congressional hearing that her unit has identified 74 suspects in reporters' killings, but she didn't say if any of them had been detained. She also told lawmakers that she is aware of only one case involving the slaying of a journalist that reached sentencing.

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (AP) — Gunmen shot dead an online journalist while he ate at a taco stand in the Mexican town of Ojinaga, which lies across the border from Presidio, Texas, authorities said Monday.